practice interviews?

if you live in the uk you will probably have to do a practice interview at some point, its not something all schools do but it was in hindsight a great experience so that you can get feedback and know what an interview is like before doing it ‘for real’. I know a lot of people (including myself) get anxious coming to to an interview even if it is ‘just a practice’. Here are my life lessons (haha) from having a practice interview and other advise I’ve been told from employers:

first, breathe! if you’re anxious and this counts for any situation, breathing is always the best way to calm yourself down. For me if i know am overly nervous i know that i am more likely to go blank if they ask me a question and i won’t think clearly so breathing really helps to get out of that mindset.

act confident, interviewers like to see that you turn up with a smile on your face, good posture, a firm handshake and seem like you know what you’re talking about.

I speak really quickly so a definite tip to my future self is to take it a little slower next time!

Have a career\ life goal in mind. The most my practice interviewer wanted to know was what I am planning to do with my life, that i can set goals for myself and how i am going to achieve those goals.

If you a student really take all the opportunities you can, i know that there are so many people who come to having an interview and have nothing to say for what they had done at school and what responsibilities that had taken on. This could be work experience, volunteering, helping out the school in some way or generally getting involved in anything your interested in

I am by no means an expert in career advise, i have only done a practice interview but this may help those who are about to have there interviews.

For our school we had to find a smart outfit to wear so all the boys wore suits and girls wore dresses or suits. It was a good experience as my interviewer gave me advise at the end and thoroughly went through my cv as to what was good and what i could add or remove.